FinTech Studios is a hybrid "startup studio" and operating company headquartered in New York City - the financial capital of the world. We focus solely on investing in top FinTech entrepreneurs to help build great new disruptive FinTech products and companies in the massive $4 trillion financial services industry.
Jim Tousignant is the CEO and Founder of FinTech Studios and is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience and proven track record in fast-growth start-ups in the internet and FinTech markets. Jim was co-founder and President of Multex, a leading provider of online brokerage research, earnings estimates and fundamental data that was acquired by Reuters. At Multex, Jim raised $55 million in venture capital and completed a $40 Million IPO, achieving $1.4 Billion market cap on NASDAQ.
The founders and advisors of FinTech Studios have closed BILLIONS of dollars of transactions and created BILLIONS of dollars of market value for investors and shareholders, including investing in the following companies prior to IPO or being acquired:
Supportsoft (IPO)
E*Loan (IPO)
Buy.com (IPO)
Prio (acquired by Infospace)
Invesmert (acquired by StanCorp Financial)
Personalogic (acquired by AOL)
Zip2 (acquired by Compaq)
MarketGuide (acquired by Multex)
Sage (acquired by Multex)
Research Data Group (acquired by Multex)
BuzzCompany (acquired by Multex)
BBN Planet (acquired by Verizon)
Classic Sports Network (now ESPN Classic)
Redgate Communications (acquired by AOL)
Spectrum HoloByte (acquired by Microprose/Hasbro)
Arbortext (acquired by PTC)
Cadis (acquired by Aspect Development)
Cast Iron Systems (acquired by IBM)
Digital Persona, LogLogic (acquired by TIBCO)
ONI Systems (IPO)
Portal Software (IPO)
Torrent Networking (acquired by Ericsson)
Verisign (IPO)
Multex (IPO - $1.4 Billion market cap; acquired by Reuters)
We're DIFFERENT than other firms - we're not a venture capital firm and we’re not a typical accelerator. FinTech Studios is a startup studio and operating company with dedicated sales, marketing and technology resources in NYC that works actively with our portfolio companies to help design and sell innovative FinTech products and services directly to leading global financial institutions and through strategic channel partners.
Typical incubator or accelerator programs last ONLY 3-4 months, are NOT focused on FinTech and DO NOT provide any direct sales, marketing and operational support to participating startups. FinTech Studios works closely with our portfolio companies for YEARS, we are solely FOCUSED on FinTech and we provide SIGNIFICANT amounts of direct sales, marketing and operational support.
We are focused ONLY on the FinTech marketplace and our business model is a HYBRID startup studio/operating company model that allows us to invest small amounts of seed capital combined with significant sales, marketing and business development resources to help our portfolio companies achieve their first $1-5 million in sales.
Our UNIQUE APPROACH results in leveraging our sales, marketing, business development and technology resources across a number of FinTech startups at the same time, resulting in faster growth with less outside capital required by each business (because sales are increasing), with better pre-money valuations for startup entrepreneurs and lower risks for investors.
Each year FinTech Studios invests in 10+ new FinTech startups. The core FinTech Studios program runs for a longer period of time (12 months vs 3 months) than other innovation programs, because 150 years of Wall Street experience tells us it typically takes at least 6-12 months to confirm MVP product/market fit and close key initial enterprise deals with financial institutions. In addition, we are strategic resellers for our portfolio companies and actively sell and market their latest products and services through our direct sales force and global channel partners.
We go much deeper with the startups we invest in because we want our portfolio companies to win in the marketplace. To us, SaaS is not “Software as a Service” but rather “Sales as a Service”. We help our portfolio companies create and execute winning business and product strategies, and drive sales and marketing campaigns with integrated CRM, lead generation, branding, pricing, positioning, competitive analysis, direct sales, channel sales, marketing and business development. And of course, we invest cash, provide co-working space and provide access to our growing network of leading financial institutions, entrepreneurs, strategic channel partners, VCs and angel investors.
We go deeper into the “stack” and role up our sleeves with our portfolio companies by investing significant resources in sales and marketing activities to accelerate direct sales of new disruptive FinTech products to financial institutions and through channel partners. We provide the #1 thing every FinTech entrepreneur needs to grow their business, help raise capital and substantially increase shareholder value – accelerate your SALES results and expand your customer base.
Anyone considering an investment in one of our syndicates should understand that these investments represent absolute risk, and there is a meaningful risk that they can lose all their money. There is no guarantee of a "soft landing" or acquisition if things do not go as planned. In addition, there is no guarantee that, even in a successful company, there will be opportunity for liquidity for the shares represented and an investor should be prepared to have their capital committed for ten years, or more without liquidity.
